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In 2017, 72% of eligible patients attending a sexual health clinic had an HIV test, compared with 75% in 2016. Men were much more likely to accept a test than women.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, damages the immune system and weakens the ability to fight everyday infections.

This can lead to a person getting Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) which is the name for a collection of potentially life-threatening illnesses which occur after your immune system has been damaged by HIV.

Aids cannot be transmitted from one person to another, however HIV can. You cannot contract Aids without HIV.

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Across England, the new diagnosis rate has steadily reduced, from 12.9 in 2012 to 8.7 last year.

Debbie Laycock, head of policy at HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the drop in new HIV diagnoses showed “the progress we’re making”.

“This has been achieved through determined activism and by effectively utilising everything at our disposal in the fight against HIV, including access to condoms, regular testing and HIV prevention pill PrEP,” she explained.

Ms Laycock pointed to the 31% decline in new diagnoses since 2015 among gay and bisexual men as particularly important.

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She added: “To see this level of progress across all groups right across the country, we need to look closely at who is still being diagnosed and what we can do better to target those groups.”

While new HIV diagnoses are going down in Croydon, HIV prevalence is increasing.

In 2011, when this data was first recorded, there were 477 people per 100,000 who were HIV positive. That figure rose to 557 last year.

As Croydon's population is around 380,000 it equates to around 2,100 people who are HIV positive in Croydon.

The Terrence Higgins Trust said it was hard to judge the significance of this, as better quality treatment means HIV positive people are living far longer lives than previously.

Ms Laycock explained: “This increase is predominantly a result of the amazing treatment we now have to effectively manage HIV, which is something that seemed a distant prospect at the start of the epidemic.”

In many people HIV has been reduced to an undetectable level, so they cannot pass it on.

Croydon’s HIV prevalence is below the average for London, which is 569 per 100,000 people.

Public Health Minister Steve Brine said the figures showed “we are well on our way to eradicating” HIV, but he warned against complacency.

He continued: “Our commitment to prevention has led to more people getting tested and almost every person with a diagnosis is now in treatment – meaning they are unlikely to pass the virus on to someone else.

“I am committed to ensuring that we deliver on our promise to reduce the number of people contracting HIV even further.”